With the Red Sox safely in another country, the Yankee bats come alive

Just about every Yankee got a hit in the Boogie Down in Friday’s 11-7 clobbering of the Cleveland Indians. Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada had three hits apiece. Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson hit home runs that may not have landed yet. (A-Rod hit his bomb into the left field bleachers, right next to the sports bar, a shot that ESPN measures at 460 feet!) Mark Teixeira was on base four times and had a three run double. Brett Gardner came a few feet shy of a homer and had to settle for a double. In total the Bombers took a commanding 11-2 lead into the eighth inning. Injuries or not, few bullpens will give that back.

Ivan Nova, meanwhile, pitched well. He lasted seven innings allowing just two runs and four hits on 100 pitches, striking out six and walking just three. Nova normally doesn’t miss many bats. The difference between this and most of his other starts was that he had excellent command of his curveball. Suddenly, he could put hitters away and he was never in trouble throughout the game.

The same could not be said of Fausto Carmona. Carmona lasted just four innings, allowing eight hits, six runs and walking three. All three of those free passes came in the first inning, and all three came around to score, giving the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.

We've seen a bit too much of this lately

In the second inning Curtis Granderson hit a bullet into the right field upper deck. In response, Carmona planted a fastball just above the numbers on Mark Teixeira‘s back. Tex has been a target these past few games, and did  not take kindly to the blatant head-hunting. Although he didn’t flip out and charge the mound, Tex screamed at Carmona to throw the ball over the plate. Both benches and both bullpens cleared, but in the end most of the action was limited to some jawing between Manny Acta and Joe Girardi. After that, the Yankee slugfest continued.

Apart from Tex getting plunked hard for the second time in the past few days, the only other negative to this game would be that the thin Yankee bullpen allowed five runs in the eighth and ninth innings. As a result, Girardi turned to none other than Mariano Rivera to secure the final two outs of the ballgame. Mo gave up a hit, but also ended the game. Normally this would be a frustrating use of the ageing closer, but the Yankees hadn’t turned to him in some time.

Bartolo Colon faces off against Mitch Talbot in game two of the four game set in the Bronx. The game time is scheduled for 1pm on YES. Hopefully we’ve seen the last Yankee get plunked for a while.